Cash-register.



No. 722.510. 'PAIENTED MAR. 10,1903;

' F. 1. HULL.

CASH REGISTER.

unmmn FILED AUG. 5, 1901.

I N0 MODEL.

No. 722,510. PATENTED MAR. 10, 1903.

F.J. HULL.

CASH REGISTER. APPLIGATION FILED AUG. 5, 1901.

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No. 722,510. PATENTED MAR. 10, 1903.

F. J. HULL. CASH REGISTER.

APPLIOATION FILED AUG. 5, 1901.

NO MODEL.

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WM w No. 722,510. PATENTEDMAR.10,1908.

P. J. HULL;

CASH REGISTER.

APPLICATION FILED AUG. 6, 1901'.

H0 MODEL. 1 4 SHEETS-SHEET 4.

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FOSTER J. HULL, OF BROOKLYN, NEW YORK, ASSIGNOR, BY MESNE ASSIGN- MENTS, TO AMERICAN MECHANICAL CASHIER COMPANY, A CORPORA- TION OF NEW JERSEY.

CASH-REGISTER.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 722,510, dated March 10, 1903.

/ Application filed August 5, 1901. Serial No. 70,917. (No model.

To a. whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, FOSTER J. HULL, a citizen of the United States, residing at Brooklyn, in the county of Kings and State of New York, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Operating Mechanism for Cash-Registers, of which the following is a specification.

This invention relates to improvements in IO operating mechanism for cash-registers. In some machines of this class the operation of the register is effected by a handle that is connected to the several register-wheels, so as to operate the same under the control of I 5 keyboard mechanism, so that while the keyboard mechanism determines the extent of movement of the individual register-wheels the actual movement is imparted by the handle aforesaid. In such devices the difficulty has been experienced that unless considerable care be usedin operating the handle a violent or jerky motion will be given the register-Wheels, resulting sometimes in overthrow of the latter. This is particularly the 2 5 case when the work brought upon the handle is considerable, as in combined cashiers and registers, so that the operator must use considerable force in moving the handle in order to operate the parts extraneous to the 0 register. My invention overcomes this difficulty by providing a motor which is regulated as to speed and which operates the register at a fairly uniform and moderate speed, this motor being preferably a spring-motor wound up by the operation of the main operatinghandle and then released by the movement of said handle.

In the accompanying drawings, Figure 1 is a plan view of register mechanism embodyo ing my invention, certain overlying parts of the keyboard and other mechanism being removed. Fig. 2 is a side elevation with frame parts removed. Fig. 3 is a central sectional view of the motor device. Fig. 4 is a section Fig. 6 is a vertical section on the line A A in Fig. 1 looking to the right, showing the governor or regulator for the spring-motor. Fig. 7 is an end view of the motor-spring drum, with the end disk removed. Fig. 8 is an end view of a ratchet device transmitting motion from the handle to the motor device.

1 represents a frame which supports the register and the other devices associated therewith. The register-wheels are indicated at 2 and are connected in any usual or suitable 6o manner through pawl-and-ratchet mechanism 3 4 and gears 5 with operating or controlling shafts 6, journaled in suitable supports or brackets 7 on frame 1. Suitable star-wheel devices 8, with pawls 9, are also provided for holding the register-wheels against accidental displacement.

The keyboard mechanism may be of any usual type, comprising, for example, sliding keys 10, which are arranged in rows, one row for each register-operating shaft 6, the inner ends of said keys being adaptedto engage a spiral bar 11, secured at each end to disks 12 on shaft 6, and said keys are also adapted to engage a pivoted frame 14, which carries a dog 15, cooperating with a ratchet 17 on shaft 6 to hold said shaft in normal position except when released therefrom by depression of a key, there being one of these dogging-frames 14. for each shaft 6. Springs 16 tend to turn the shafts 6 when thus released until the said shafts are stopped by the action of keys 10, as aforesaid.

Suitable locking means may be provided for holding the keys 10 depressed, including locking-plates 18, the operating means for which are not here shown, as they form no part of my present invention. Springs 19 restore the keys to normal position when released from the locking plates. At their 0 rear ends the shafts 6 carry gears 20, engaging rack-bars 21, which slide in suitable guides on frame 1 and are actuated by the springs 16 aforesaid. In the movement of the shafts 6 under the action of the springs the register-wheels are not operated, as the pawls 3 slip idly over the ratchets 4:; but such shafts are thereby set in definite positions, depending on the key operated, so that in their return movement to normal position under the action of resetting mechanism the registerwheels will be operated to an extent proportionate to the original movement of the shafts.

The resetting mechanism comprisesasleeve 22, mounted to turn on a shaft 23, supported on bearings 24 on frame 1, said sleeve carrying arms 25, arranged in different angular positions and adapted to engage by rolls 26 with the ends of rack-bars 21, the respective arms engaging successively or in rotation with the corresponding rack-bars, so as to operate the respective register-wheels successively, and thereby prevent any mistakes in totalizing, such as might result from the simultaneous operation of two registerwheels. The spring-motor comprises a drum 27, attached to sleeve 22, and a disk or wheel 28, attached to shaft 23, which shaft is free to rotate in its bearings 24 independently of sleeve 22. A spring 29 is attached at one end to drum 27 and at the other end to shaft 23, so that when shaft 23 is turned it tends to draw the drum around with it. Such movement of the drum is normally arrested by a lug 30 thereon engaging with a projection or detent 31 of a dog 32, pivoted at 33 to a fixed support on frame 1. This detent 31 is also adapted to engage a ratchettooth 34 on disk 28, and said disk carries an arm 36, adapted in the rotation of the disk to engage a pin 37 on dog 32 and lift the detent 31 out of engagement with stop-lug 30. Drum 27 also carries a gear 38, engaging a pinion 39 on a shaft 40, supported in brackets 41 and connected by gears 42 43 44 45 to a governor consisting of a vane or fly 46. The gearing 44 45 is shown as spiral gearing to secure greater speed of the fly 46.

The main operating-handle 48, Fig. 2, is mounted on an arbor 49, pivoted in a fixed frame part 47, so as to be capable of complete rotation, and this arbor carries a mutilated gear 50, which is capable of engaging a segment-gear 51 on a lever 52, pivoted to frame 47 and pivoted at its other end to a dependent rack-bar 53, on which is formed a rack 54, engaging a pinion 55, mounted loose on shaft 23. A disk 65, rigidly secured to pinion 55, carries a pawl 56, which is pressed by a spring 57 (see Fig. 8) into engagement witha singletoothed ratchet-wheel 59, fast on shaft 23. A spring 60, attached at one end to the bar 53 and at the other end to a fixed frame part, tends to draw said bar downward. Said bar is guided in a slot or notch in a bracket 61, and a buifer 62, of rubber or other elastic material, attached to said bar, engages with the top of this bracket to give an easy stop to the bar and prevent shock when the bar is drawn down by spring 60.

In the normal position of the parts the mutilated gear 50 is free of the segment-gear 51; but on turning the handle 48 the said gear enters into engagement and turns the segment-gear and lever 52 on its pivot, thereby raisin g the bar 53. During this movement the pinion 55 is turned by rack 54 and the pawl 56 turns the wheel 59 and the shaft 23, thus winding up the spring-motor. When the mutilated gear 50 is turned so far as to bring its mutilated portion opposite the segment-gear 51, the latteris released and spring 60 draws the rack-bar 53 down, turning the pinion 55, but not the shaft 23, as the pawl 56 slips over the single-toothed ratchet-wheel 59. In the upward movement of bar 53 shaft 23 is turned in the direction of the arrow in Fig. 4 and the tooth 34 on disk 28 moves away from stop or detent 31, While arm 36 on said disk approaches the releasingpin 37 of dog 32. Shortly after said shaft 23 thus begins to move the arm 36 will engage and raise the pin 37 and dog 32, withdrawing detent 31 from the stop-lug 30 on drum 27, so that the latter can begin to rotate under the influence of the spring 29, its rotation being governed, regulated, or moderated by the governor or fly 46, geared thereto. This rotation of drum 27 causes the sleeve 22 to rotate at a steady, moderate, and uniform speed, moving the resetting-arms 25 around so as to engage successively with the reset-bars 21, and thereby reset the controlling-shafts 6 one by one to normal position and by the same action operate the register-wheels in succession in a definite absolutely-certain manner without danger of overthrow. When disk 28 has completed its rotation under the action of the handle 48, its tooth 34 rides under the detent or projection 31 of dog 32 and momentarily lifts the dog, the detent 31 then dropping back of the tooth, and thus holding the disk 28 and shaft 23 from backward movement independently of the action of spring 60. It must be understood that the upward movement of bar 53 and the accompanying movement of shaft 23 and disk 28 in winding up the spring 29 of the motor device are sudden and that the disk is then held by tooth 34 and detent 31, while the drum 28 slowly moves in the same direction to catch up with it, said drum being finally arrested by its stop-lug 30 coming against the detent 31.

Having now described my invention, the following is what I claim as new therein and desire to secure by Letters Patent:

1. The combination with a register and an operating-handle, of a motive device adapted to operate said register and to be operated by said handle, means for regulating the speed of said motive device, detent means for said motive device, and means connected to the operating-handle for releasing said detent means for the motive device.

2. The combination with a register, of a spring-motor device adapted to operate the same, means for controlling the speed of the spring-motor device and manually-operated means adapted to wind up the spring of the motor device, a detent for the spring-motor device, and means controlled by the manually-operated means to release the detent after the beginning of the movement of said manually-operated means.

3. The combination with a register, of a spring-motor device adapted to operate the same, an actuating device connected to the spring-motor device and provided with a returning-spring, a handle connected to said actuating device, a pawl-and-ratchet connection between the actuating device and the spring-motor device, a detent for the springmotor device, and means connected to the actuating device for releasing said detent.

4. The combination with a register, of a spring-motor and an actuating device for the same, a handle, a connection between said handle and actuating device including a trip device adapted to release the actuating device from connection with the handle, a detent for the spring-motor, and means connected to the actuating device to release said detent.

5. The combination with aregister, of a spring device comprising two spring-connected members, one of which is adapted to operate the register, of actuating means connected to the other of said members, detent means for the register-operating member, means carried by the other member for releasing the detent means from the register-operating member, and means also carried by the other member to engage said detent means to prevent back movement of said member.

6. The combination with a register, of a spring device comprising two spring-connect- 3 5 ed members, one of which is adapted to operate the register, of actuating means connected to the other of said members, a detent engaging the register-operating member, means carried by the other member to release said detent, and an inclined-tooth device carried by said other member to lift the said detent and to then engage therewith to prevent back movement of said member.

7. The combination with a register of a 5 spring device comprising two spring-connected members one of which is adapted to operate the register, of actuating means connected to the other of said members, detent means for both of said members, means controlled by the actuating means to release said detent means, and a ratchet connection between said actuating means and the member to which it is connected.

8. The combination with a register, comprising a plurality of register-wheels, keyboard mechanism and a plurality of shafts controlled thereby and connected to the register through pawl-and-ratchet connections, of resetting means connected with said shafts, a motive device carrying means engaging successively with said resetting means, and regulating means controlling the speed of said motive device.

FOSTER J. HULL.

Witnesses:

JACOB J. WENNER, HENRY F. OOTTER. 

